News

June 29, 2010

Entrepreneurs adopt innovative work methods to survive

Almost 90 per cent of small-business owners have adopted new ways of working to help their firm through recent tough trading periods, research from the Entrepreneur Country (EC) has revealed.

The EC survey of 576 small businesses in June 2010 found that 85 per cent have introduced new working methods and 94 per cent are using free or low-cost technology and services.

“Although we live in straightened times, those building businesses in this environment are adopting new technologies, services and ways of working as a way to survive and thrive,” said ECF founder, Julie Meyer.

The research also highlighted that one in five businesses now operate without an office, as they are happy for staff to work from home or on the move. “This confirms everything we are seeing,” said Enterprise Nation founder, Emma Jones.

“More and more small firms are embracing new ways of working,” she added. “Offices are an unnecessary cost for a lot of small firms and working from home allows small firms to significantly reduce their overheads.

“Small firms don’t have marketing budgets so they have to be clever with free stuff and do things in a different way,” said Jones. “Social media has been adopted by small businesses and a lot of big companies are just following behind. Sites like Twitter are almost tailor-made for entrepreneurs. And LinkedIn is perfect for pulling together a team of experts.”

The ECF survey also revealed that a lack of access to bank finance has forced would-be entrepreneurs to find alternative sources of funding to set up in business – almost half of start-ups established in the past two years have their principal funding from the company founder, with a further 24 per cent bank-rolled by the founder’s family or friends.

“Far from looking to traditional organisations like banks and institutional investors such as 3i to back them, it’s clear that in a world with no money, entrepreneurs will be looking instead to the ‘3fs’ – friends, families and founders for the capital they need to succeed,” said Meyer.